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Bitcoin Adoption Statistics — Still Going Strong in 2023

Stephen Ngari
Stephen Ngari
February 16th, 2023
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Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that was first released in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto. It was the first digital coin that gained mainstream attention.

At the onset, Bitcoin (BTC) was designed to be a decentralized payment medium. The prices were modest and the first Bitcoin payment was made for two pizzas at a price of 10,000 BTC in 2010. Since then, it's come a long way. In this article, we crunch all the data to bring you a consolidated story of Bitcoin through the numbers.

Bitcoin Trading Volume and Market Cap

Let's look at some stats about Bitcoin trading:

  • Currently, Bitcoin has a market capitalization of about $775 billion. However, it crossed the one trillion market cap in 2021.

  • The fully diluted market cap is presently about $850 billion

  • Bitcoin currently ranks number one by market cap

  • Bitcoin’s market dominance currently sits at 42.3%. The second is Ethereum at 17.8%

  • The present 24 hours trading volume for Bitcoin is about $24 billion

  • Coinbase, a leading global crypto exchange had a trading volume of over 565,000 in the past 30 days

  • Bitcoin has a circulating supply of 18,974,350 and a maximum supply of 21 million

  • The average daily Bitcoin transaction in 2023 is about 250,000 transactions

Surveys carried out early on indicated that people are warming up to crypto and especially Bitcoin. Data published in 2019 on Forbes showed that Crypto adoption is high among younger age groups in the US. This is a trend seen globally, and even more in recent times. Here are some highlights of the report:

  • Over 59% of people in the 18-34 age group have an optimistic outlook on Bitcoin as a financial innovation

  • 48% of people between the ages of 18-34 years believe that BTC will be greatly used in the next 10 years

  • 42% of the same age group are likely to purchase BTC in the next 5 years. About 8% of those aged 65+ were willing to make such an investment

  • 20% of the millennials surveyed indicated they owned BTC. This is a sharp contrast to only 2% of those aged 65 and above

  • The report also concluded that millennials preferred investment in BTC compared to government stock and bonds

Bitcoin Adoption by the Numbers

Worldwide search interest in Bitcoin was 60% in 2021 according to data from Blockchain center. BTC towered over other cryptos with Ethereum coming at a distant second with 13% search dominance.

  • Data in 2021 shows that there are about 106 million Bitcoin owners

  • It's estimated that there are about 400,000 BTC users daily

  • There were about 200 million BTC wallets in 2021

  • There were about 53 million BTC traders globally in 2021

The search volume for Bitcoin was highest in El Salvador at 98%. Nigeria came second at 76%.

Here are the top 10 countries by Bitcoin search dominance

Country Stats Highlights

USA:

  • A 2021 report by a crypto exchange indicates that Bitcoin is almost synonymous with cryptocurrencies in the country. 95% of crypto owners and crypto-curious individuals have heard of Bitcoin. Another report also indicates that Bitcoin still reigns as the most popular crypto in the US. 87% of former and current crypto holders owned Bitcoin. It's estimated that 46 million Americans own a share of BTC.

Singapore:

  • A joint survey by various crypto firms indicates that 69% of crypto holders in the country hold Bitcoin. BTC comes second to Ethereum in the country with a 78% share amongst crypto holders.

France:

  • Bitcoin was the most popular crypto in the country. The coin was dominated by 69%.

Australia:

  • Bitcoin is the most popular crypto in the land down under. BTC ownership is dominated by 72% of crypto owners in the country.

According to a survey conducted in 27 countries in late 2021, Australia leads by the share of crypto holders who own Bitcoin. South Africa comes second with 54% of crypto owners holding BTC. See below the breakdown.

Top 10 Countries Leading with Bitcoin ATMs

Another metric to consider when checking adoption statistics for Bitcoin is the number of Bitcoin ATMs (BATMs) in the country.

The US far outpaces other countries in BATMs with 32,283 machines installed countrywide. Canada comes a distant second with 2,362 while Spain comes in third with 213 BATMs according to data from Coinatmradar.

CountryNumber of Bitcoin ATMs
USA32,283
Canada2,362
Spain213
El Salvador205
Poland172
Switzerland146
Hong Kong138
Austria132
Romania124
UK82

North America leads in the number of BATMs installed. This is then followed by Europe. Asia and Africa tend to use P2P platforms such as Binance P2P to purchase BTC.

Top Bitcoin Holders Globally

Satoshi Nakamoto is considered the one who holds the most Bitcoin. This anonymous individual or group, mined over 22,000 blocks and received about one million block rewards. It means that Satoshi has over a million Bitcoin in his possession presently valued at over $40 billion.

Since Bitcoin gained global attention, many retail traders have scrambled to get their hands on it. However, governments, institutional traders, and companies have also acquired BTC in large numbers.

These institutions own large sums of BTC due to their financial muscle. The ability of crypto to be a store of value shielded from inflation has attracted interest.

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers held by these different institutions.

Public and Private Companies

Some companies have gone all out and invested in Bitcoin. For instance, Electric car manufacturer Tesla reported the value of their Bitcoin holding to nearly hit $2 billion. Currently, the company owns 43,200 BTC.

Tesla’s Bitcoin stash however pales in comparison to that of MicroStrategy. The data analytics firm presently holds 125,051 Bitcoin worth about $5 billion which represents 0.6% of the total supply.

Other companies with significant Bitcoin ownership include Square and Marathon Digital. Here’s a list of the top 10 companies holding Bitcoin as of February 2023 in the US.

CompanyNumber of Bitcoins
MicroStrategy125,051
Tesla43,200
Marathon Digital Holdings8,133
Square Inc8,027
Hut 8 Mining Corp5,242
Bitfarms Limited4,600
Coinbase4,487
Riot Blockchain4,464
Hive Blockchain4,032
Galaxy Digital Holdings4,000

Estimates put the number of Bitcoin in the hands of companies in the US at 174,068, representing 0.82% of the total supply.

Block.One, a Chinese company held about 140,000 BTC, the single largest stash by a private company. Many companies in Europe and Asia hold substantial amounts of Bitcoin although they’ve not made this information public.

Institutional Investors

There are institutional investors who’ve put significant investments in Bitcoin. Some purchase BTC directly on exchanges, while some prefer exchange-traded funds (EFTs) which contain a product portfolio related to Bitcoin.

Data from Bitcoin Treasuries estimates that private investors own about 8% of the total BTC supply.

A Good example of an investor holding a considerable amount of BTC is Grayscale Bitcoin trust. The company holds about 3.4% of the total BTC supply as of October 2021.

Other companies with notable BTC ownership include CoinShare and Purpose Bitcoin which hold a combined total of 99,730 BTC.

Governments

Surprisingly, governments have also invested in BTC. According to Bitcoin Treasuries, the Ukrainian government leads in BTC ownership currently holding about 46,351 BTC. El Salvador and Georgia also hold BTC.

Bitcoin Distribution by the Amount of Bitcoin

Supply distribution is typically represented by marine animals such as whales. Here are the criteria we’ll use to show the breakdown of the number of Bitcoin each group owns.

NameNumber of Bitcoins
Shrimps<1 BTC
Crab1-10 BTC
Octopus10-50 BTC
Fish50-100 BTC
Dolphin100-500 BTC
Shark500-1,000 BTC
Whale1,000-5,000 BTC
Humpback>5,000 BTC

The data below explains the number of Bitcoin in possession with those who hold 1-10 BTC and so on.

Whales that own between 1,000-5,000 BTC hold the most crypto, leading by 18.4%. This represents large institutional traders or private investors with massive capital.

The Shrimp represents novice retail traders who are starting their crypto ownership journey. These are individuals who buy fractional for investment.

How People Acquire Bitcoin

According to our estimates, crypto exchanges and brokers are the leading online platforms that potential Bitcoin owners use to acquire the coin, especially in developed countries. Emerging economies and developed countries use Peer to peer marketplaces as on-ramp platforms to purchase Bitcoin.

Some of the leading crypto providers where you can buy BTC in the world include:

Why Bitcoin Ownership Is Attractive

Some of the world-leading companies are accepting and using Bitcoin. Leading examples include Mastercard, Microsoft, Tesla, and Amazon. This drives the adoption and use of the coin with the masses knowing that it’s acceptable on some of the global brands.

Some of the other reasons why people find BTC investment attractive are:

  • Investment purposes

  • Many retail merchants and businesses accept Bitcoin as a medium of payment

  • Makes global remittance easy due to the ease and speed of transaction

  • Bitcoin brings financial inclusivity to people who cannot get into government and institutional investment options

  • The uniformity BTC offers across the globe

  • As a store of value against inflation especially in developing and emerging economies.

  • Distrust in public institutions

  • Circumventing taxes

Contributors

Stephen Ngari
Writer
Stephen is a seasoned crypto and fintech specialist with industry experience. Having worked in tech, helping people send money globally and rollout solutions, he understands the impact that tech like blockchain brings to real world issues. He is passionate about crypto, writing and basketball.